Live Review: The Black Keys Live At Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre In Tinley Park

Jul 21, 2022 admin_bitlc Features, Music News, Reviews 0

By Christopher David

In a musical landscape dominated by a dozen internet-driven sub-genres every week or so, it can be tough to keep in mind that classics never go out of style. The classics in question? No-frills, no-bullshit blues that pays homage to the masters and manages to draw in new fans, which can be a tough road to travel without just the right combination of elements. And the blues was more alive and doing very well as The Black Keys landed for a nearly sold-out show in Tinley Park this Sunday to promote Dropout Boogie, their second new release in the last three years.

Starting off the night was Ceramic Animal, a Pennsylvania five-piece whose new album (Sweet Unknown, their fourth outing) was produced by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, and their sound anchored itself firmly in classic rock rhythms and melodies—imagine a more contemporary Lynyrd Skynyrd or .38 Special without the southern flair. And Band of Horses—a bonafide American treasure at this point in their career—blew through a nearly hour long set of some of their best tunes, from the plaintive melancholy of opener “Is There A Ghost” to the catchy chorus of “No One’s Gonna Love You” to the epic, fragile fan favorite “The Funeral”; the Seattle quintet was the perfect compliment to the main event.

The Black Keys have cracked a challenging code in the modern musical landscape: staying true to their style of garage-ifying classic blues tunes while adding their own material to the conversation and staying relevant—hell, getting bigger with each album, actually, which is no small feat. Guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney have, like so many great bands, built a world around themselves, beholden to no one else’s image or designs on their work. They’ve come a long way since the rough-and-tumble swagger of “Busted,” a welcome treat from their very first album that was rolled out last night for the first time in well over ten years, and new tunes like the fiery “Wild Child” and the thumping shuffle of “Your Team is Looking Good” fit in beautifully with the laundry list of hits as well as a ‘mini-set’ of blues covers from 2021’s Delta Kream, the Keys’ straightforward blaster of a covers album that ranks among their best work. Auerbach’s take on John Lee Hooker’s “Crawlin’ Kingsnake” came across with every bit the snarl and pomp you’d want, and Richard Berry’s “Have Love, Will Travel” sounded, again, as if it could have come from any Keys’ record in the last ten years. By the time the band landed on the sing and dance-alongs of “Little Black Submarines” and “Lonely Boy” from breakthrough album El Camino (2011), it was impossible not to reflect on just how far the Akron duo have come.